In the last year, airberlin saw an increase of 46 percent in passengers booking flights on the airline to Australia. Since 2012, airberlin and codeshare partner Etihad have seen the popularity of the service, which occurs 39 times weekly and includes one stop in Abu Dhabi (AUH) before going to one of four Australian destinations, steadily increase.

To celebrate, airberlin teamed with Tourism Australia to create the #seeaustralia Airbus, which will feature a kangaroo on the fuselage and fly short- and medium-haul airberlin flights for the next year.

“The kangaroo is synonymous with our country,” said John O’Sullivan, managing director, Tourism Australia. “It has always played an important role in how we promote Australia to the world, so we couldn’t be happier that airberlin has given us the opportunity for our very own ‘skippy’ to welcome their German passengers as they step on board the plane.”

Airberlin is offering special Australia rates as part of the promotion until March 14, and also hosting a Facebook giveaway to win a vacation for two to Australia. Currently, airberlin, alongside Etihad Airways, provides flights to Melbourne (MEL), Sydney (SYD), Brisbane (BNE) and Perth (PER).

“Australia is booming and we are proud that, together with Etihad Airways, we can offer the fastest one-stop connection to Sydney from Berlin. The continuous increase in demand for travel to Australia in recent years has been a constant factor in a very dynamic travel market. Our long-haul flights with Etihad and around 500 weekly codeshare flights with Virgin Australia on 14 routes within Australia offer our passengers plenty of opportunity for comfortable travel across the continent,” said Stefan Pichler, CEO, airberlin.